There Is A Crack In Everything

Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, and icon. He’s one that got better, in a different way, with age. There was something in his deep, simple, stripped down, minimalist way that felt genius to me. And comforting.

Leonard Cohen died in November, after sixty years in the business. Tributes have been many.

For me, “Hallelujah” and “I’m Your Man” keep playing in my head. I find myself humming and singing them. My voice seems to go naturally deeper when I do.

It’s these lyrics, however, that a friend recently reminded me of.

Put down you perfect offering.
Ring the bell that still can ring.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.

Here’s to celebrating the cracks. The cracks in the perfect story that can often imprison as much as inspire. The cracks in the perfect career that sometimes point us in a very different and unanticipated direction. The jaggly cracks in our closest relationships that can feel like lighting to the heart, painfully and excitingly. The cracks in are hallowed assumptions that release us from how things “should be” to how they are. The cracks through which light can’t help but bend its rays through.